Thread: Ebay question...

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Ok I have a situation where I decided to sell something on Ebay. I was discussing it on another forum when I was approached by Joe Blow and asked how much I wanted to sell it for? I never answered the price request as I didn't know how much to ask for it. I talked to a buddy of mine and offered it to him as he could most likely use it in his business. He said why dont you try to list it at a starting point of $75.00 on ebay. If it doesn't sell he would give me $75.00 for it... Ok, fine so I list it then post on the other forum that it is on ebay for $75.00 and then it started. Why didn't I just give Joe Blow a price and sell To him outright, I was asked? Now after a little back and forth I find Joe Blow is a little on the narcissistic side I fear and they often lie and find sport in making others uncomfortable.

This was one of the last things I was told by him... "By the time you screw with the POS Ebay and pay pal fees you will be left with a bad taste in your mouth. Especially when ebay pulls your funds because the buyer felt he was ripped off."

Which got me thinking, If he is writing this he is probably thinking abut it? So My thought would be that he wins the auction. I ship him a nice piece of equipment. He changes out the good guts for the bad guts he already has and turns me in for shipping bad goods? How can I notarize or certify that the piece I shipped was indeed in good shape?

iv`e had nuthin but the best of dealings and results from ebay and paypal .. to my thinking someone who would bad mouth them is not a person i`d want to deal with to begin with ...if you are selling and sending something that can be dis assembled then apply some kind of torque seal ( paint stripe or mark ) on nuts and bolts to ensure they are not removed ..

No, not possible with this thing. I called ebay and talked to the resolution center. They said they would make note of it and if there was an issue it would be on record. They reviewed the pics I posted of the guts as well as the housing. He assured me that if there were any issues that they could figure things out by the pics? I dont know but he sounded very confident... I know what state this yahoo lives in so if I get a shipping address to that state some alarms are going to go off. LOL

Grab a sharpie and place your initials in discrete places on the guts.

Scribe it in a few places as well.

I was going to say something similar. A couple of well placed punch marks on the exposed threaded bits and pics of same.. deform the threads enough to show a change if the nut is drawn over the deformation.

As added protection of yourself; one of the things you did when you attached a bank account to your paypal was authorize paypal/ebay to go in and take money back out. This is how they offer their "buyer protection plan", wherein they promise an unhappy buyer he'll get his money back. So as a seller with legitimate concerns one way to protect yourself and maintain some negotiating power is to make sure there are never any funds in that attached bank account for ebay/paypal to "retrieve". That way they have to communicate with you before giving back money.

Edit: the same goes for paypal holding your funds in their account for you, get it out or spend it asap.

If it were me, I'd pull it off Ebay and give it to me friend.

I called ebay yesterday and spoke to the resolution center and made them aware of what was going on. They took a look at the posting and looked the pictured over really well. I read them what was on the forum post and they noted all the info I had on the guy. They said it was all documented very well and to go ahead and auction it off. Hey its only 75.00 but its just the thought of it happening. Way too much in that account to pull for $75.00 and I seldom use ebay. Can one pull a auction if there are no bids yet?

Originally Posted by M.T.

Can one pull a auction if there are no bids yet?

You can cancel an auction any time before closing (except maybe in some final small time period). One of the choices for closing reason is "item no longer available" or such.